The present invention relates to an electric fry pan of the kind in which the fry pan is heated by means of an electric heating element in the base of the pan.
It is well known to make fry pans of aluminium or of aluminium lined with a very thin layer of stainless steel in which the heating element is cast into the underside of the base of the pan, provision being made for the connection of a temperature control device to the heating element. The device is normally connected to the pan by means of a plug and socket connector so as to be removable from the pan when it has to be washed.
Electric fry pans of the kind described above are sold in substantial quantities and generally provide a satisfactory means for cooking a wide variety of foodstuffs. A difficulty does however arise in connection with known fry pans in that the heating element, which is necessarily arranged to form a closed path in the base of the pan, cannot provide heat equally to the whole of the interior surface of the base of the pan; the very good heat conduction properties of aluminium tend to mitigate against this. If for example water is placed in a pan and the heating element energised, the water immediately above the heating element will start to boil first and the outline of the heating element can be readily seen.
It is also well known that fry pans of cast iron have desirable qualities from a culinary point of view, so far as uniformity of heating over the whole area of the base is concerned. It has however not previously been proposed to apply electrical heating to a fry pan of this kind, possibly because of the difficulties of incorporating the heating element in the material of the pan.